According to Edward Freeman: “For any business to be successful it has to create value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities, and financiers”. Freeman’s theory states that we have to combine the interests of all of these groups, for a business to have a prosperous and perspective future. Any business is a team, and for it to be successful every team member has to have their interests satisfied in order for them to be productive and effective. If one group is neglected they will lose motivation and focus, therefore affecting the business as a whole: a team can’t function properly if one of its members is disengaged. Customers must want to buy the goods and services, suppliers must make companies better with their creativity and innovation. Employees must want to be at work and contribute to the business, and lastly businesses must value their shareholders and make profit for them. By being sensitive towards people’s needs and interests, a manager could create a great work environment which would draw people in and therefore let the business prosper. I personally support Freeman’s Theory which seems as an intelligent and good approach to managing a company.

Video of Freeman’s Theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIRUaLcvPe8

Work Cited:

“Masters Seminars in Business Ethics Video Series: R. Edward Freeman on Stakeholder Theory.” Darden School of Business: University of Virginia: MBA, EMBA, Exec Ed – UVA Darden. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. <http://www.darden.virginia.edu/corporate-ethics/Video_Stakeholder_Theory/transcript_freeman_stakeholders.html>.

An inspection has discovered 57 under-age workers at a meatpacking plant in Iowa, which has sparked an investigation that is seeking charges for child labor violations. By Iowa laws it is illegal to employ minors under the age of 18 at meatpacking companies due to the dangerous nature of the work. In addition through interviews, the under-age workers have revealed that they were forced to work up to 17hours/day, not getting paid overtime, and worked with little or no safety training. If found guilty, the enterprise will have to pay a fine of up to $1 million.

This ethical dilemma is the question of whether or not it’s moral for companies to employ under-age workers. In my opinion it is unethical since these enterprises are taking advantages of minors who do not possess the necessary life experience, and jurisdictional knowledge to understand and defend their legal working rights. This allows the companies to underspend on adequate training and equipment for these minors, as well as to create miserable working conditions. The result is better profit for the companies, which have to spend less on these under-age employees.

Work Cited:

PRESTON, JULIA. “Inquiry Finds Under-Age Workers at Meat Plant – NYTimes.com.”The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/us/06meat.html?ref=childlabor>.

To learn more about child labor visit: http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour.html

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